Cory Heidelberger, who lives in Spokane, Wash., but is a South Dakota political activist and commentator, filed an affidavit with Secretary of State Jason Gant this month questioning some of Bosworth's petition signatures.

Gant wrote to Heidelberger on Saturday and affirmed Bosworth had exceeded the 1,955 valid signatures she needed to get on the ballot. Bosworth's campaign turned in 3,648 signature lines overall. Of those, 795 lines were blank, 275 signers were registered voters but not registered Republicans, 125 were not registered voters, and 148 signatures were excluded for flaws such as being duplicates, having invalid signing dates or being invalidly notarized.

That still leaves Bosworth with 2,305 valid signatures. "The challenge to the petition of Annette Bosworth was not successful and her name will continue to appear on the 2014 Primary Ballot as a candidate for United States Senate," Gant wrote Heidelberger.

However, Gant has forwarded to Jackley Heidelberger's charge that some of the signatures on Bosworth's behalf allegedly gathered by Bosworth and her husband Chad Haber between Jan. 5 and 15 could not have been collected then because Bosworth and Haber were in the Philippines.

"I don't have the authority to determine whether or not those claims are true or false," Gant said. "I have forwarded that to the attorney general for his review."

Gant said he issued his findings Saturday in an effort to keep the election on pace. For the same reason, Jackley said this weekend he is trying to reach his senior litigation team, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Gant, Heidelberger and Bosworth to sound them out on how they think his office should proceed. He hoped to have some direction by Monday at the latest.

"Generally, elections are the responsibility of the Secretary of State and county auditors," Jackley said. "With that said, we will look at this ... I can't tell you what we will do with it yet."

Jackley said he wants to hear from Gant on what specifically the Secretary of State needs from his office because the attorney general functions as legal counsel for the Secretary of State.

Jackley also wants to hear from Bosworth campaign officials about their view of the limits of his investigating responsibility. He wants to hear from Heidelberger about how far Heidelberger wants Jackley to pursue allegations against Bosworth, and he wants to hear from his litigation team and DCI about whether they think potential fraud has been committed.

"I get the fact time is of the essence," said Jackley. "I also don't want to make a hurried decision without thoughtful input from all parties involved." Jackley said while the customary line of authority in elections is auditors, the secretary of state and circuit court if there are disputes, he is willing to listen to rationales from the parties in the Bosworth challenge on whether his office should or should not take a more preemptive role beyond what is customary.

Joel Arends, Bosworth's lawyer, said he is not concerned about any potential legal investigation, and he said Gant's ruling affirming Bosworth secured enough valid petitions frees her campaign to "focus on issues that matter to South Dakota." Patrick Davis, Bosworth's campaign manager, said Arends would be Bosworth's official spokesman on the petition challenge.

Arends also noted Bosworth is among candidates chasing the presumed favorite in the Republican Senate primary, former Gov. Mike Rounds.

"Why focus so much time on her?" he asked.

Heidelberger's answer is that petition circulaters take an oath verifying they personally witnessed each signature they collected and they circulated petitions during the period set forth by law to obtain signatures.

"Oaths matter. That's why I get my adrenaline up on this," Heidelberger said.

He added that he anticipated Gant would cite limits on his authority to investigate violations of circulaters' oaths. He is pleased Gant forwarded the issue to Jackley, and he said he is looking forward to talking with the attorney general.

"I am very heartened, to be honest, that Secretary Gant is doing that and Attorney General Jackley is going to be making some phone calls. That phone call is where I will have a conversation with him about evidence."

Heidelberger said he wants to hear from Jackley before he decides whether to pursue a challenge against Bosworth's campaign in circuit court.

"If the attorney general is looking into things, I most definitely need to speak with him first. I need to understand what, if anything, is going to happen by that route."

Heidelberger said he also plans to bring up with Jackley another claim in his affidavit that Bosworth's name does not appear properly on her nominating petitions.